1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to routing apparatus for forming wood molding of the dental block type.
2. Description of the Prior Art
So-called dental block type wood molding comprises a length of rectangular molding having a plurality of evenly-spaced notches. This type of molding has enjoyed widespread popularity and use as decorative ceiling, portal, and fireplace molding, particularly in Colonial and Georgian architecture.
The conventional method of manufacturing dental block wood molding involves use of a dado attachment, normally on a radial arm type power saw, and physical marking of the lumber to be cut at the desired evenly-spaced intervals. The lumber is then cut at the marked intervals by manually indexing the workpiece past the saw, and cutting each notch individually. The conventional process is quite time consuming and results in dental block molding being priced comparatively higher than other moldings. In addition, manual indexing of the workpiece often leads to uneven spacing of the notches. If, for example, an operator neglects to space an interval following the last notch cut and subsequently cuts a notch where there should have been a space, much time and finished work on that particular workpiece are wasted.
With these drawbacks in mind, applicant introduced an indexing mechanism for dental block wood molding in conjunction with a radial arm type power saw adapted for dado cutting. U.S. Pat. No. 3,754,583 covers this mechanism which substantially improved the accuracy and quality of dental block wood molding and also provided a means for speeding up the manufacture of such molding.
However, even with applicants' introduction of the apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,754,583, it was desirable to be able to further cut cost and labor and to be able to rapidly and automatically index stock lumber at automated rates. It was recognized that with such a machine, an operator would not only be capable of drastically increasing productivity but would also be relieved of the chance of human mistakes and resultant waste would be virtually eliminated. The provision of such a machine thus has become the principal object of the present invention.